Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Do Snakes Chase People?

This is a gopher snake's best imitation of a rattle snake.
And another tough gopher snake:
Unless you are a rodent or other prey item, snakes will not chase you. Even the most venomous and feared snakes in North America will not pursue people and are sometimes hard to photograph because they quickly flee when approached. I have witnessed water moccasins swim up to investigate when people are splashing in the water, but they swim off after seeing people. The closest I have come to being pursued by a snake has been the result of gopher snake encounters. When an adult gopher snake assumes a hissing/defensive posture, it will sometimes pursue for several feet in an attempt to scare someone that isn't heeding its warning. This has never been more than a few feet and is always the result of me intentionally getting too close to a defensive snake.

3 comments:

Rosh said...

I really love your blog because I think snakes are lovely creatures and also love anything to do with animals.

I'm surely going to follow this blog!

Take care

- Rosh

American Homemaker said...

I'm pretty sure they would chase me.

Jessie said...

You have done a great job on this blog. I love learning things about the creatures you like so much. I still think that Bearded Dragons are better though! LOL